Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Metformin is widely used for treatment of gestational diabetes mellitus. Metformin is considered safe in pregnancy but crosses the placenta. The limited available data of follow-up of children exposed to metformin in utero suggests potential for increased adiposity but mechanisms are unknown. As placental DNA methylation has been linked to later obesity and metformin causes global DNA methylation changes in cancer cell lines we hypothesised that this may be a candi...

Aim: Pre-operative localisation of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) has been based on ultrasound (US) of neck and MIBI scans with an expectation that solitary parathyroid adenomas (PA) would be localised with reasonable accuracy and sensitivity, to enable mini-parathyroidectomy. The aim of our audit was to assess the utility of both these imaging in patients with parathyroid adenoma.Method: Retrospective analysis was performed on all patients who had s...

Single cell measurements of signalling proteins typically reveal high cell–cell variability raising questions about how reliably individual cells sense their environment in order to make decisions. Information theoretic approaches can be used to explore such sensing, treating cell signalling pathways as ‘noisy’ communication channels. Mutual information (MI) can be calculated between system inputs and outputs as a statistical measure of the reliability of sensin...

Background: Using a deuterated tracer (D4-cortisol) to measure cortisol regeneration from cortisone in vivo we have quantified tissue-specific 11βHSD1 activity in health and disease, and acute regulation eg by insulin. These studies relied on tracer enrichment in the total plasma cortisol pool, assuming rapid equilibration between free and protein-bound pools. Slower equilibration would result in underestimation of enzyme activity, and has implications for the co...

Background: One percent of the adult population are, at any one time, prescribed oral glucocorticoids (GC). GCs are known to be associated with hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis suppression. However, there remains uncertainty regarding: i) the prevalence of GC-induced adrenal insufficiency (AI); ii) the effects of GC dose and duration; and iii) the time course of adrenal recovery and how GCs should be withdrawn. We undertook a systematic literature review to addres...

Whether high glycaemic index/glycaemic load (GI/GL) diets increase low-grade inflammation leading to changes in body composition and risk for chronic illness remains uncertain. We recently completed a randomised, double-blind study comparing the effects of a 45 g whey protein supplement (PRO) and an isocaloric maltodextrin supplement (CHO) on bone density and body composition in older adults. The study afforded an opportunity to evaluate the impact of a calibrated increase in ...

One way in which cells receive information about their environment is through hormones binding to appropriate receptors on their cell surface. Single cell measurements of signalling proteins typically reveal high cell–cell variability raising questions about how reliably individual cells sense their environment in order to make decisions. Information theoretic approaches can be used to explore such sensing, treating cell signalling pathways as ‘noisy’ communicat...

Background: Adult survivors of childhood leukaemia treated with bone marrow transplantation and total body irradiation (BMT/TBI) have an increased risk of diabetes mellitus (DM) disproportionate to their level of adiposity or other recognised risk factors. Post prandial hyperglycaemia due to reduced β-cell reserve after irradiation will be missed by fasting glucose (FG) levels. However, the UK National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) screening guidelines recommend...

Background: Delta-like homologue 1 (DLK1) encodes a transmembrane protein, which may also be secreted into the circulation. Levels are known to rise in maternal serum during late gestation and our genetic studies in the mouse have shown that this DLK1 arises from the conceptus. The cell population that secretes DLK1 into the maternal circulation has not been identified. In humans DLK1 has been shown to be differentially expressed in intrauterine growth restricted (IUGR) when c...

Background: Children who are overweight and obese have a higher incidence of fracture, but it is unknown if this varies by fracture site. Indeed, obesity in adult women protects against forearm fracture, but increases the risk of humeral fractures. We aimed to determine if adiposity differed by fracture site in children with upper limb fractures.Methods: Children aged 3–18 years were recruited within 60 days of fracture. Height, weight, waist circum...